Rolex Big Boat Series 2013 - now with UMF rating system

Rolex Big Boat Series Regatta 2013. Maintaining its leadership position in yacht racing, the St. Francis Yacht Club, in San Francisco, host of the annual big boat regatta, announced today that it will employ the emerging Universal Measurement Form (UMF) for all handicap classes racing in the Rolex Big Boat Series taking place September 26-29, 2013.

'While world rating authorities continue on the development of a cohesive and inclusive overall rating system, St. Francis Yacht Club will be using an element of that overall project – the Universal Measurement Form, which incorporates data elements from IMS and other rating rules, including IRC, ORR, ORC and HPR,' said Rolex Big Boat Series Co-Chair Norman Davant.

'An integrated UMF will allow a single measurement to provide boat certification across multiple handicap rating rules so that a boat can be rated under any participating rule. Now with UMF, we can offer our competitors an easy solution to obtaining a rating based on certificate information they already have, eliminating the need for re-measurement.'

According to Stan Honey, Director of Technology, America’s Cup Event Authority and Vice Chairman of the ISAF Oceanic and Offshore Committee, 'US Sailing has been working with ORC and RORC for several years and all agreed to jointly develop a Universal Measurement System (UMS) based on the data collected on a standard form.

'The UMS will allow boat owners to measure their boat once and race that boat under any handicap system, in any region of the world, without re-measurement. Many big boat owners view the worldwide adoption of the UMS as the most significant breakthrough in the administration of handicap racing over the last decade.'

Current ORR or ORC certificate holders have virtually all the measurements needed to get a rating under any measurement rule. IRC certificate holders may require additional hull, rig and stability measurements in order to rate under additional systems. All boats entering the Rolex Big Boat Series will have their data recorded on the UMF.

US Sailing maintains a large database of standard hulls and previous certificates, and is ready to offer a head start on getting boats measured using UMS.

The Rolex Big Boat Series has, and will continue to feature handicapped racing under IRC, eliminating the need for current IRC certificate holders racing under IRC to obtain additional measurement data.